In the past 24 hours, CNN has poached yet another big name from ABC News, dropped one top executive and seen the departure of three well-known contributors, and announced the launch of a new morning program that, according to network sources, will have ripple effects on the prime-time programming.

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The changes are part of Zucker’s larger effort to transform CNN from an old, tired, 24-hour breaking news channel into an entertaining, personality-driven network that no longer restricts the definition of news to “war, famine, pestilence and politics,” as CNN host Piers Morgan recently put it to POLITICO. Zucker has told staff he wants to “broaden the definition of what news is,” meaning more sports, more entertainment, more human interest stories — and, at times, less politics.

“What is clearly the case is CNN is going to try to do something that’s as dynamic and as far out there in some ways as any other news station has done,” Paul Levinson, a professor of media studies at Fordham University, told POLITICO. “That’s the only way they can stay competitive.”

In a recent town-hall meeting with staff at CNN New York, Zucker said the network needed more “differentiation,” sources present at the meeting told POLITICO. At Fox News and MSNBC, both of which trump CNN in the ratings, programming is driven by the network’s personalities, and each show is different. On CNN, especially in daytime, most programming runs together as an endless cycle of breaking news updates. Zucker wants to change that.

“Under Whitaker, there was this idea, which I think made a lot of sense, that what CNN could do that others couldn’t do as well is always be able to give old-school, hard news from places all over the world,” Robert Thompson, the director of the Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture at Syracuse University, told POLITICO. “Zucker has come out recently making the argument that one has to come up with programming that people will watch when there isn’t breaking news.”